


Celebration

by LittleMissWolfie



Series: After [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mild Language, Morning After
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7747288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissWolfie/pseuds/LittleMissWolfie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Ah!” He clutches at his heart. “The lovely lady knight has saved me! How can I ever repay you?” He lifts one of her hands to his face and presses a kiss to her knuckles, making her giggle in an embarrassingly girly way.</p><p>Or;</p><p>Allura hosts a ball in the Castle of Lions to celebrate the end of the war, but no one's really interested in talking politics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Celebration

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm not actually super proud of this one, but I feel like it's an important piece of the series. I'll probably go back and revise it later, but I wanted to go ahead and put his out here.
> 
> Once again, thank you for all the positive reviews! Ididntsignupforthisshit, AlphaofDarkness, BlackChat, Spartypants82, and guest Cheshire all had very encouraging words for me, and, as always, they were greatly appreciated.
> 
> BlackChat correctly identified the group Fifth Harmony. The song I was thinking of is Squeeze from their album 7/27. Since they answered correctly, they got to decide, and they picked fluff over smut. I hope I delievered!
> 
> Please enjoy Celebration!

Pidge fidgets with the skirt of her dress and stares at herself in Allura’s wall-length mirror, letting the emerald green tulle rub against her fingers. She feels like a child at her parents’ work function; her dress only reaches her knees and only has the illusion of being backless because of the nude-colored fabric in the back and down her arms, which foster a floral pattern in the same green tulle. She’s afraid to walk in her black heels because she’s sure she’ll topple over at any minute. Her pearl necklace is borrowed from her mother and her makeup makes her look soft. Her hair has been brushed and curled and hangs freely around her shoulders, giving it a youthful vibe, and her communicator, which usually takes the form of an earpiece, has changed itself to become two deep green earrings, much like Allura’s. The only thing that marks her as anything other than a diplomat’s daughter is flower on her left breast. It looks like a rose, but its petals are all different colors: black, red, green, blue, and yellow. Coran called it the Voltron Rose, cultivated to honor the Paladins at all sorts of formal affairs. “I’ve kept them going in the greenhouse,” he’d said as he showed them to the Paladins, “just in case we should have need for them.”

“Pidge?” She whips around at the sound of Allura’s voice. “Can you lace me up?” Okay, good, this gives her a chance to practice with her heels. She slowly walks to the room divider Allura changed behind, taking comfort in the regular pattern of  _ click, click, click, click _ her shoes make on the linoleum floor.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Allura looks stunning. Her ball gown makes her look every bit a princess. Its pink color contrasts attractively with her dark skin. The lace bodice meets tulle at her waist and it flares out so it will swish when she walks. The high neck is already properly latched, so Pidge walks right to her back and begins tightening the laces. The area between her shoulders is bare, and so are her arms, but Allura will wear shoulder-length gloves and a shawl to cover the skin. She’s already wearing the Altean crest on a gold chain around her neck and her hair is done up in a more elegant version of her combat bun, her golden, jewel encrusted diadem holding her shorter hair back and out of her face. Her earring/communicators, usually a deep purple color, have morphed to look like diamonds. “You look amazing,” Pidge murmurs, tying the laces off at the top in a neat bow.

Allura smiles at her in the mirror. “So do you, Pidge. Don’t sell yourself so short.” She turns around and wraps her in a hug. “To be honest, I’m a little nervous. I’ve never had to host a ball before. If you could just act as confident as you do in your combat suit, it would give me a lot more credibility. Can you do that for me?”

Pidge grins, pulls out of her embrace, and curtsies. “Anything for my princess.”

A knock falls on the main door of Allura’s chambers. Pidge moves to answer the door, giving Allura time to cover up her skin. When it slides open it reveals a dashing looking Shiro, in a white shirt with black accents, black pants, and a white shirt with a black tie. His Voltron Rose is pinned neatly to his lapel and he’s wearing white gloves on both hands to hide his cybernetic arm. “Hey, Shiro,” Pidge says stepping aside to let him pass into the room.

“Pidge, you look beautiful. Where’s Allura?” He cranes his neck looking for his lover, making Pidge giggle a little. Leader though he may be, his biggest concern is seeing his girlfriend.

“Right here,” Allura calls, walking out from behind the divider. Her gloves are as white as snow, and her shawl is colored to match. Pidge steals a glance at Shiro and is amused to see his face red. “Is Coran ready to present us?”

“Ah, yes, the last of the dignitaries are being presented as we speak.” He offers Allura his arm with a flourish. “Shall we depart, Princess?”

Pidge scoffs. “Sure, I’m not here.” Shiro laughs and she playfully pushes past him. “I’m gonna go find Lance. See you guys out there.”

\---

She finds Lance standing with Hunk and Keith in a corridor leading to the main staircase. As per Coran and Allura’s recommendations, they’re all wearing suits that match the color of their Lions. Hunk’s is almost neon yellow, but it looks nice on his dark skin. The blazer is unbuttoned to allow for his muscular stomach so his rose hangs a little strange, and he’s somehow found a tie that matches the color of his suit exactly. He’s talking animatedly to Shay, who’s acting as a delegate from her Balmera (and, unofficially, as Hunk’s date). Keith is wearing a red blazer with a black collar and black pants, buttoned up all the way and properly showing a slightly darker red tie. He looks extremely uncomfortable and is tugging on the collar of his shirt. He’s the only Paladin that will be presented alone, and she can’t help but feel bad about it.

Lance sees her and grins, making her breath catch (not that she’ll admit it). It’s been a few days since she’s seen him, since Allura insisted all the Paladins rest at home with their families, and she’s not used to such a prolonged absence. He’s very handsome in his dark blue suit, she admits, and his hair’s been cut by a professional. His jacket is buttoned up all the way, surprisingly, and his light blue shirt underneath is also properly worn. The only thing Pidge can fault him for is the blue and white plaid tie he’s wearing. “Hey, Pidge,” he calls, moving closer to her, almost as if magnetically drawn. “You look amazing.” 

Her heart flutters (a  _ little _ ) and she smiles back. “You don’t look too bad, yourself.” Then she notices something. “Where’s your rose?”

He flushes, scratching at the back of his head and only slightly mussing his slicked-back hair. “I, uh, couldn’t put it on by myself.” He fishes his rose, miraculously still intact, from his pants pocket and holds it out to her. “Could you put it on for me?”

She chuckles and takes the rose from him. “You’re hopeless,” she says with some degree of affection, and with her heels she only has to stretch her arms a little to reach his lapel. She takes her time pinning the rose in place and give his chest an extra pat when she’s done. “There you go.”

“Ah!” He clutches at his heart. “The lovely lady knight has saved me! How can I ever repay you?” He lifts one of her hands to his face and presses a kiss to her knuckles, making her giggle in an embarrassingly girly way.

“I believe a dance will serve just fine as payment,” she replies in a lofty tone, playing along. 

Keith clears his throat loudly, and Pidge and Lance both glance over at him to see his grumpy face. “If you two are done flirting, Coran’s ready for us.”

“How’s that stick up your ass feel, Keith?” Lance asks in response even as he and Pidge make their way to the top of the stairs.

Coran seems relieved to see Pidge, but then his brow wrinkles. “Where are Allura and Shiro?” he asks, sounding more than a little panicked. 

Pidge answers, “They’re still in her room, I think.” When his face pales, she quickly adds, “We can all just walk really,  _ really _ slow to buy them some time.”

“Besides,” says Hunk, “she’s a princess and the leader of the Voltron Alliance. No one’s gonna get upset if she’s a little late.”

Coran sighs. “Ah, very well. Keith, you’re up!” Keith nods and moves into place, if a bit stiffly. Once he’s ready, Coran clears his voice and calls, “Presenting Sir Keith Park, the Red Paladin!” As per Pidge’s explanations, Coran has opted to title the Paladins according to Earthly knightly titles. There’s applause throughout the room as Keith descends the stairs and Hunk and Shay move into place. “Presenting Sir Hikialani Kahiau, the Yellow Paladin, and Shay of Balmera X-95-Vox!” More applause, a bit louder this time, and Lance takes her arm.

“You ready?” he asks.

She grins up at him. “You bet.”

“Presenting,” Coran calls, “Sir Lance Rios, the Blue Paladin, and Dame Katherine Holt, the Green Paladin!”

Heads held high, they begin their walk down the stairs and into the crowd.

\---

Thankfully, it doesn’t take Shiro and Allura too long to make their appearance, and the party officially commences. Pidge’s family tracks her down after the princess’s formal greeting. Matt’s still hobbling awkwardly on the cane she made for him, but her father has fully recovered, and her mother is glued to his side. “So  _ this  _ is Lance,” she says, drawing the ‘this’ out far longer than necessary. “I’ve heard a lot about you!”

Matt scowls. “So have I.”

To Pidge’s surprise, her mother smacks Matt’s arm in a not-so-playful way. “Stop being such a pessimist, Matthew! You don’t get to be judgemental of your sister’s relationship so long as you keep making eyes at that Keith boy without doing anything about it!”

Matt goes scarlet, Lance’s face twists in distaste, and Pidge cackles. “ _ Mom _ ,” Matt whines. “Not so  _ loud _ !”

“Don’t be rude to your sister’s boyfriend, then.”

Her father laughs, tugging her mother towards him slightly. “Stop embarrassing him, Liz; the poor boy’s been through enough.” He extends his hand to Lance, who shakes it. “Good to see you again, Lance.”

“Likewise, sir,” Lance answers, and Pidge can tell he’s a little nervous. “How are you liking the ball so far?”

“Between you and me, I’ve always found formal events  _ extremely _ boring. I know they’re important--put on a united front, and all that--but I’d much rather be at home.”

Pidge laughs. “Same here. But the princess needs us here. It’s especially important for Earthlings to be here, since all the Paladins are from Earth.” Beside her, Lance starts chuckling. She turns an annoyed glance up at him. “What’s so funny?”

Instead of answering, Lance points, and Pidge (and her family) follow its path. Pidge almost starts laughing, too, because Keith’s been assaulted by his Arusian fanboy. “Poor Keith,” her mother sighs. “He told me how uncomfortable he is with all this attention.”

“This isn’t a one-time thing,” Lance explains a tad breathlessly. “That guy’s an Arusian. When we met the Arusians, we’d just saved their planet from one of Zarkon’s monsters, and the guy running tackled Keith.”

“Oh, my god!” Pidge gasps, finally giving in to her laughter. “Keith goes, ‘Man, you’re cuddly,’ and the Arusian says in the  _ deepest voice _ I’ve ever heard out of something so small, ‘Thank you!’ Keith almost  _ died. _ ”

“He must have tagged along as one of the king’s guests,” Lance muses. “They don’t have much of a government,” he explains to her parents as Pidge tries to catch her breath, “so the king could have brought anyone he wanted as long as he kept it down to two.”

“I see the dancer over there.”

“Oh, you’re right.” Then Lance sees another group of people and tugs lightly on Pidge’s elbow. “Hey, wanna meet my family?” 

She can feel her face flush a little.  _ Meeting the parents. _ “Sure,” she says, and she hopes her voice comes out as steady as she wants it. Turning back to her parents and brother, she says, “Well, try not to start an intergalatic conflict. If you need me, just call.” Then she lets Lance lead her to a rather large group of people.

Lance’s mother must be psychic, because she turns to face them before they’re halfway across the room. They quicken their pace and, before long, Lance is wrapped in his mother’s arms. “You look so handsome!” she says, nearly on the verge of tears. When she finally releases her son, her gaze locks on to Pidge. “Is this the girl you were telling us about?”

Lance goes red, and Pidge giggles before offering his mother her hand to shake. “I’m Katie Holt, but he may have called me Pidge. It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Rios.”

“Oh, you’re so polite!” Instead of shaking her hand, Mrs. Rios wraps Pidge in a hug. “And you’re very pretty, too! Lance sure found himself a winner.”

“Ma!” Lance protests.

“Your son’s nothing to sneeze at, either,” Pidge replies. “He’s saved all our lives more times than I can count.”

“I didn’t cut off an evil alien’s arm when I was fourteen, though,” Lance murmurs. 

“I didn’t push Coran out of the way of a bomb when I was sixteen, though,” Pidge mocks. 

Mrs. Rios clears her throat, and the two’s attention snap back to her. “If you two are done singing each other’s praises,” she says, eyes sparkling, “I’d like to introduce Katie to everyone.” Before she’s even finished speaking she has a hand on Pidge’s lower back and is guiding her into the crowd of people. “Everyone!” she calls, gathering the considerable group’s attention. “This is Lance’s girlfriend, Katie!”

There a moment of awestruck silence before the family converges around her. It seems like everyone wants to hug her or shake her hand, and by the end of the introductions she’s confident she could at least point them out in a line-up. She feels a tug on her skirt and looks down to see Lance’s little sister--Aurelia?--staring up at her with doe-eyes. “Are you a soldier?”

The family laughs, as does Pidge, and she crouches carefully so as not to flash anyone and still be at Aurelia’s height. “You could say so. I’m more like a knight, if you ask me.”

“Like Bubby?” Aurelia asks, eyes shining.

“Yes, like  _ Bubby _ .” She vows to tease Lance for that later. “You know how his lion is blue?” When Aurelia nods, she continues, “Mine’s  _ green _ . Do you want to see it?”

Aurelia whirls to look at her mother. “Can I, Mommy?”

Mrs. Rios laughs. “Of course, baby.”

“I’ll go, too,” Lance says.

“No!” Aurelia protests. “Girls  _ only! _ ”

His older sisters laugh, and the younger one--the twin, she thinks. Cassandra?--asks, “Are Ceci and I invited, then?”

Aurelia considers for a moment before nodding. “Sure!”

Pidge smiles. “Let’s go, then. Follow me.”

\---

Aurelia holds Pidge’s hand the entire walk and Cassandra and Cecelia make polite conversation to fill the silence of the darkened halls. When they’re almost to Green’s hangar, Aurelia tugs on her hand, making her stop and look down. “Katie?” she asks. “Are you gonna marry Bubby someday?”

And Pidge has to think about  that for a second, because she honestly doesn’t know. She’s never put much thought into anything other than  _ survive _ since they stumbled upon the Blue Lion. She knows she loves Lance, and she wants to be by his side, but  _ marriage _ ? Marriage means settling down, starting a family, and Pidge doesn’t know if she’s cut out for that. Would she even be a good mother? Before Voltron, she would have said yes. Before she had to distinguish herself between Pidge the Paladin and Katie the Girl, she would have said yes. 

But being married to Lance might not be so bad, a part of her croons. They’ve already been living together for the better part of four years. The only things that would have to change would be her name and the legality of the situation.

_ Right. _ Like she can explain  _ that _ to an eight-year-old. Instead, she says, “Maybe someday. We’re still a little young.”

Aurelia tilts  her head to the side. “Aren’t you a grown-up?”

“My birthday is tomorrow; then I’ll be a grown-up. And I’ll talk to Bubby about it after I’ve been a grown-up for a while.”

“Pinky swear?” She holds a tiny pinky up.

Pidge smiles and wraps hers around it. “Pinky swear.”

\---

After she’s viewed Green to satisfaction, Aurelia is very tired and demands Pidge carry her back to her family. She falls asleep almost immediately after Pidge hefts her onto her back, snoring into her neck. “Sorry about her,” Cassandra says. “She asked you some weird questions.”

“I don’t mind. She made me think about some things.”

“You mean  _ Lance _ ?” Cecilia asks. 

“Yes,  _ Lance. _ ” She takes in a deep breath. “I love him. I really do. Like, so much it’s kind of scary for me. We’ve spent the last four years constantly fighting for survival, so there wasn’t much of a chance to talk about the future. It’s almost surreal that we’re safe now, you know? So I don’t want to have that conversation with him until we’re a little more settled. She just made me think about it.”

That seems to satisfy them, and the rest of the trek to the ballroom is done in silence but for Aurelia’s snores.

\---

Mr. Rios takes Aurelia from Pidge when he sees his tuckered-out daughter. “Thank you for showing her your lion,” he says to her. “She was really excited when she found out there was a girl piloting one of them.”

“It was my pleasure, really.”

A tap on her shoulder makes her look up at Lance, who’s grinning. “I believe I owe you a dance.”

She tilts her head up to look at the clocks she convinced Allura to install. They show the current time or times of every planet in the Voltron Alliance. In their Earth timezone, it’s almost midnight.  _ Perfect. _ She smiles at Lance and lets him take her hand. “You better pay up, then.”

The band is playing an Altean waltz. That’s probably the reason Lance brought the dance up; Coran and Allura taught all the Paladins how to dance this dance the previous week, and neither of them have recognized any other music that’s been played. It’s still awkward, since Pidge has never danced in heels, but they manage not to make complete fools of themselves. Whenever she can without being noticed she steals a glance at their clock.

As the waltz slows to a halt, she rocks forward to whisper in Lance’s ear. “As of about two minutes ago, I’m eighteen.”

Lance’s brow furrows in confusion. “Congratulations?” he says slowly. She gives him a moment and realization dawns on him. “Oh.  _ Oh. _ ”

She smirks. “And there’s no way I’m gonna be able to get out of this dress on my own. My arms are too short to reach the buttons.”

His voice lowers about an octave when he says, “Well, if you were to come to my room, I may be able to help you get out of it.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

\---

Pidge wakes up feeling warmer than she’s ever felt. Her back is pressed all along Lance’s front and his arm is a comforting weight on her side. His steady breath tickles her ear and their legs are still tangled under the blanket, so she’s pretty sure he’s still asleep. Her entire body aches pleasantly and her thighs are uncomfortably sticky from the night before, but she doesn’t move for fear of waking Lance.

She’s on the verge of sleep again before Lance groans and his legs stretch, detangling from her own. “G’mornin’ Pidge,” he slurs, kissing her cheek. “Been up long?”

She hums instead of answering. “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

He shifts his legs and she can almost feel him scowl. “We didn’t clean up last night.”

“To be fair, we were tired.”

He hums in agreement and his arm tightens around her. “How much longer do you think we can pretend to be asleep before someone comes looking for us?”

“Not long.” She finally lets her body stretch and nearly groans at the feeling. “I say we go take a shower and head to breakfast.”

“Shower  _ together _ ?” he sounds concerned, so she twists around to look him in the eyes. “You’re not too sore or anything?”

“After last night, Lance Rios, you’ll be lucky to ever shower alone again. I can’t believe you made me  _ wait  _ for that!”

He sighs. “Good. I was worried I’d mess up.”

“It was wonderful. Now!” She sits up, making his arm and the blanket fall to her hip. “Are you gonna come with me, or will I have to wash myself?”

His grin borders on lecherous. “Oh, never again.”

She lets him pull her from the bed and lace their fingers together. “Let’s get going, then. I’m starving.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I, an eighteen-year-old soon to be college student, still call my older brothers "Bubby."
> 
> Like I said, not the best piece in the series so far, but something had to be the low point. I really just wanted to have Pidge bond with Aurelila, to be completely honest. This was actually probably a little better than me trying to write smut, because I have literally no experience with anything sexual. In short, BlackChat may have saved me!
> 
> I hope the next fic will make up for this one's poor quality. I'm not giving you a sneak peek this time, but it's gonna be something big. I hope you'll still follow this series after this trainwreck.


End file.
